Unusable or unwanted sections of natural or synthetic material are often discarded as waste and not processed for reuse, repurposing, or recycling. These sections of material may accumulate over time. For example, scrap material may accumulate in the course of producing consumer or commercial goods. In another example, used consumer or commercial goods may accumulate after being discarded upon becoming unsuitable for an original or intended purpose (e.g., ripped, tattered, soiled, or threadbare goods).
Typically, although such accumulated material may be recyclable or reusable, it is often diverted to, and disposed of, in landfills. In many cases, this may be due to the inconvenience and expense associated with sorting a high volume of accumulated material into groups of like material in preparation for material-specific reuse, repurposing, or recycling. In particular, conventional systems and methods for sorting like materials may be unable to classify a wide variety of materials, may require input from one or more well-trained equipment operators, may be time consuming to operate, and/or may be prohibitively expensive to operate and maintain.